The Yontz well drilled by Colorado-based Antero Resources in Ohio's Monroe County will likely produce $300,000 in product per day or $2 million a week, according to West Virginia energy professor Tim Carr.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 30, 2013--
Eric Fishman
will become Vice President & Treasurer of
Hess Corporation
effective
September 1
. Fishman, who is currently Treasurer, Marketing and Refining, joined Hess in 2007 as Assistant Treasurer, Capital Markets. He previously worked in Treasury roles for Cendant and
Becton Dickinson
.

ALBANY, August 29, 2013 – New York State Petroleum Council Executive Director Karen Moreau welcomed the decision by New York’s Court of Appeals to hear from local landowners and the oil and natural gas industry on hydraulic fracturing bans in Middlefield and Dryden that stand in the way of needed economic investment.

“Natural gas development will give a huge shot in the arm to many economically depressed areas of Upstate New York. We are pleased that New York’s highest court has agreed to hear these cases, and it could be a significant step toward ending a state-wide moratorium that is stifling job creation and investment.

“Hydraulic fracturing is a safe and time-tested engineering technology that is creating economic opportunities and jobs in areas of the country that need it the most.”

The NYSPC and API represent all segments of America's technology-driven oil and natural gas industry. Its more than 550 members provide most of the nation's energy. The industry also supports 9.8 million U.S. jobs and 8 percent of the U.S. economy, delivers $85 million a day in revenue to our government, and, since 2000, has invested over $2 trillion in U.S. capital projects to advance all forms of energy, including alternatives.

Consol Energy and the authority that runs Pittsburgh International Airport aren't the only parties expecting a windfall from plans to drill 47 Marcellus Shale natural gas wells at the airport beginning next year.

From a Bloomberg News: An interview with Total SA CEO Christophe de Margerie. His company is involved in Ohio's Utica shale through a joint venture with Chesapeake Energy and EV Energy Partners and its affiliates.

An Ohio man has changed his plea to guilty in U.S. District Court in Cleveland to a charge he violated the federal Clean Water Act by repeatedly discharging gas-drilling wastewater into a storm sewer in Youngstown.

The U.S. Attorney in Cleveland Steven Dettelbach today announced that 34-year-old Michael P. Guesman of Cortland admitted to illegally dumping brine and oil-based drilling mud into a sewer that empties into the Mahoning River watershed 24 times on the orders of his boss.

“We applaud the Energy Secretary’s decision today to appoint Dr. Paula Gant as the new U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Oil and Natural Gas. We’ve worked closely with Gant while she has been with the American Gas Association. She fully understands that we cannot have a secure energy future if we do not protect the environment, and we are confident in her abilities to meet the challenges ahead.”

“Her office has a full plate. Real questions persist about this nation’s ability to safely produce oil and natural gas resources – unacceptable impacts to the air, water and land that put our communities, habitats and the climate at risk of pollution.”

Following the release of Antero Resources second quarter financial results, it seems this independent oil and gas producer is now the current record holder for the highest producing well in the Utica. Antero’s Yontz well peak rate tested at a whopping 38.9 million cubic feet a day (Mmcf/d) equaling to an astonishing 8,879 barrels of oil equivalent a day (BOE/d) in Monroe County.

After two years, the 26-member Shale Gas Roundtable convened by the Institute on Politics at the University of Pittsburgh released a report with recommendations for effectively and responsibly safeguarding Southwestern Pennsylvania's environment while growing its economy as it manages unconventional oil and gas development, the Pittsburgh Business Times reports.

WASHINGTON, August 23, 2013 – API analysis finds the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) proposed rule on hydraulic fracturing would impose an added regulatory layer that would be costly and provide little or no environmental or safety benefit, the association said in comments filed with the agency today.

DALLAS, Aug 22, 2013 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Blue Racer Midstream, LLC ("Blue Racer") announced today that it has secured a five-year, $800 million credit facility, which can be expanded to $1 billion in the future. Formed in December 2012, Blue Racer is a joint venture between Caiman Energy II, LLC ("Caiman") and Dominion Resources /quotes/zigman/253585/quotes/nls/dD+1.78%("Dominion") dedicated to providing Utica Shale producers with midstream services and the ability to receive the highest value for their products.

Together with the private equity commitment from Caiman and the midstream assets contributed by Dominion, the credit facility supports the execution of Blue Racer's aggressive plan to develop midstream assets in the Utica Shale over the next two to three years, including natural gas gathering, processing, fractionation and NGL transportation.

Wells Fargo Securities, LLC ("Wells Fargo") and RBS Securities Inc. ("RBS") acted as joint bookrunners and joint lead arrangers on the credit facility. A syndicate of 19 banks participated in the credit facility, with Comerica Bank, RBC Capital Markets, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc., and U.S. Bank National Association also acting as joint lead arrangers. The transaction closed on Friday, Aug. 16.

Jack Lafield, Blue Racer's CEO said: "We are delighted to have completed this financing with Wells Fargo and RBS and such a prestigious group of additional lenders. The size of the credit facility is a testament to our strong relationship with the financial community, the strength of Caiman and Dominion's track records and the tremendous response Blue Racer has received from our producer customers in the Utica Shale. The proceeds will allow us to continue to execute our growth strategy for Blue Racer's midstream asset base while diversifying our sources of capital. Our goal is to continue to be the Utica's premier midstream company by providing superior customer service and the region's best opportunity to gather and process rich gas and market NGLs."

News of the credit facility follows last week's announcement that Dominion transferred ownership of the Natrium Natural Gas Processing and Fractionation Plant to Blue Racer on Aug. 9, 2013. With cryogenic processing capacity of 200 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) already online, Natrium is the first large-scale processing plant to serve rich-gas production in the Utica Shale. Blue Racer has already started construction of a second 200 MMcf/d cryogenic processing plant, Natrium II, which will bring the facility's total processing capacity to 400 MMcf/d by the end of the first quarter of 2014.

About Blue Racer Midstream, LLC

Formed In December 2012, Blue Racer Midstream is a $1.5 billion joint venture between Caiman Energy II, LLC and Dominion /quotes/zigman/253585/quotes/nls/dD+1.78%dedicated to providing Utica Shale producers with midstream services and the ability to receive the highest value for their products. With midstream assets strategically located in the heart of the Utica Shale and a robust expansion plan in place, Blue Racer's services include gathering, processing, fractionation, and natural gas liquids transportation and marketing.

Dominion contributed existing midstream assets to Blue Racer, including 500 miles of Dominion East Ohio gathering lines that span the Utica Shale, and the Natrium Natural Gas Processing and Fractionation Plant in Marshall County, West Virginia. Additional contributions of physical assets are expected in 2013 and 2014. Caiman's contribution includes up to $800 million in equity capital commitments and the experience and expertise required to manage and expand Blue Racer's asset base. For more information, visit www.BlueRacerMidstream.com.

A press release received yesterday from New York, New Jersey eco-groups on proposed LNG export terminal:

Fremont Center, NY.– Ever since Liberty Natural Gas first proposed constructing a liquefied natural gas (LNG) port in New York and New Jersey waters, the project has engendered a storm of opposition and received almost no public support. Today, as the public comment period draws to a close, the extent of this opposition can be seen in the thousands of comments that have been submitted to the Maritime Administration. Catie Tobin of Clean Ocean Action has been closely monitoring the government website, and she reports that as of this morning only 12 out of more than 10,000 comments express support for the project.

Instead, the plant has not discharged a drop of waste into the Monongahela River, a drinking water source for 350,000 people. And under a new permit issued by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the plant will not be allowed to discharge anything, unless it proves it can comply with the law and treat all of the contaminants in fracking wastewater.

Roadless tracts of grasslands, numerous parks, wildlife areas and North Dakota’s highest peak at White Butte are among 40 sites in the western part of the state that have been nominated for increased protection from oil drilling.

WASHINGTON, DC- The public comment period closes tomorrow for the Department of Interior Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) second version of its Proposed “Oil and Gas; Hydraulic Fracturing on Federal and Indian Lands” rule. BLM rules apply to more than 750 million acres of public lands and minerals: underneath Tribal lands, National Forests, Wildlife Refuges and other special places, beneath more than 50 million acres of privately-owned land, and drinking water sources for millions of Americans. These rules affect the health of communities and the environment, and the water and air upon which they rely.

The U.S. is in the middle of a natural gas boom, which is something we can thank advanced technologies like hydraulic fracturing for. Unfortunately, some people want to drive investment away by imposing new bureaucratic layers and duplicative efforts to oversee oil and gas development. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is currently considering regulations that would make it more difficult to use hydraulic fracturing on the land it manages. If these new rules are enacted, it could reduce U.S. energy production, kill jobs, and make us more reliant on foreign energy.

Washington, D.C.—Today, a coalition of 276 environmental and consumer organizations including Americans Against Fracking, 350.org, Berks Gas Truth, Center for Biological Diversity, CREDO Action, Democracy for America, Environmental Action, Daily Kos, Food & Water Watch, MoveOn, Progressive Democrats of America, The Post Carbon Institute and United For Action delivered to President Obama and the Bureau of Land Management nearly 650,000 public comments asking the federal government to ban hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on public lands. This development amplifies the message sent by the 7,800 people who called the White House yesterday, urging President Obama to protect communities and their resources from the negative effects of fracking. The deadline for submitting public comments to the federal government regarding drilling and fracking on federal lands is August 23.

Working natural gas in storage is expected to total about 3,800 billion cubic feet (bcf) on October 31, 2013—the nominal end of the summer injection season. Injections of natural gas into storage often continue into November, depending on weather and storage levels at the time.

A western Wisconsin county that has issued more frack sand mining permits than any other county in the state and in neighboring Minnesota has decided to take a hiatus on new projects while it addresses health and environmental concerns.

A spokesman for the Church of England -- noting that the church holds no official position on fracking -- has stepped into the issue of tapping England's shale resources, writes the Via Meadia blog, referring to a story by the Financial Times.

Via Meadia: "One of the voices pitching into the argument over Britain’s shale prospects was a representative for the Church of England, who condemned the knee-jerk rejection of fracking."

WASHINGTON, August 20, 2013 ─ U.S. counties have benefited from oil and gas development while preserving natural attractions such as local fishing, hunting, skiing and hiking, according to a new study released by API.

“This study shows that oil and natural gas development can stimulate economic growth in areas that also support outdoor recreation,” said API Vice President for Regulatory and Economic Policy Kyle Isakower. “Counties with an active oil and gas sector create jobs alongside employment in skiing, hunting, fishing and hiking.”

The study analyzed 16 U.S. counties that have pursued various levels of energy development and found the oil and natural gas industry provides economic diversity in communities that rely on seasonal hospitality and recreation jobs. The study by Liberty Source also concluded that energy extraction can directly contribute to natural attractions and generate funding for education, trail maintenance, and marketing for outdoor activities.

“Each county is unique, but where oil and natural gas development is an option, it yields tremendous economic growth and is compatible with recreational activity,” said Isakower. “Oil and gas revenues also provide needed funds for education, trail maintenance, and other local priorities.”

A copy of the report, “The Role of Oil and Gas and Amenities in County Economic Development,” can be found here.

API is a national trade association that represents all segments of America’s technology-driven oil and natural gas industry. Its more than 500 members – including large integrated companies, exploration and production, refining, marketing, pipeline, and marine businesses, and service and supply firms – provide most of the nation’s energy. The industry also supports 9.8 million U.S. jobs and 8 percent of the U.S. economy, delivers $86 million a day in revenue to our government, and, since 2000, has invested over $2 trillion in U.S. capital projects to advance all forms of energy, including alternatives.

The shale revolution has brought enormous economic and environmental benefits to Americans, writes James Panero at City Journal.

Panero: "Shale gas is also far cleaner than oil and coal; indeed, environmentalists should be crusading for it. Instead, they have sought to smother the Shale Revolution, claiming that it’s harmful to the environment and promoting their cause through complaisant media. Their relentless work has begun to turn public opinion and has even influenced New York’s governor to delay the approval of fracking in his state. That’s why I’ve come to visit an active drilling community in rural Pennsylvania, atop the vast rock formation called the Marcellus Shale. I want to observe gas exploration in person. When you’re on the ground, it’s hard not to be awed by its promise—and worried that so many have become convinced otherwise."

Madeline Ostrander at The Nation isn't buying into the rosy scenarios painted by proponents of U.S. shale fracking.

Ostrander: "The question remains, is fracking a climate solution or just a greenwashed version of 'drill, baby, drill'? In the last two years, reports, models, and studies of natural gas extraction paint a less rosy picture. A number of think tanks and analysts are cautious, even pessimistic, about natural gas."

Wyoming’s congressional delegation asked Interior Secretary Sally Jewell in a letter Monday to exempt Wyoming and other states that now regulate hydraulic fracturing from planned federal regulation of fracking on federal land.

A management shakeup at Oklahoma-based Chesapeake Energy has reportedly eliminated the company’s public relations department in the Utica and Marcellus shale, according to WKSU-FM radio and Crain's Cleveland Business.

They said new Chesapeake CEO Doug Lawler let four top executives go last week, along with 28 community outreach employees including Pete Kenworthy in Chesapeake's Canton office.

Is former Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon targeting Ohio's Utica shale with his new energy and drilling companies?

A trade publication, Upstream that covers the oil and natural gas industry, reported today that McClendon may have acquired 22,535 acres in Ohio from the EnerVest Ltd. companies and has bid on 50,000 additional Ohio acres held by Shell.

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Blue Racer Midstream, LLC (“Blue Racer”) announced today that the company is now the owner and operator of the Natrium Natural Gas Processing and Fractionation Plant. Strategically located in the rich-gas region of the Utica Shale, the Natrium facility sits along the Ohio River in Marshall County, West Virginia. Natrium currently serves production from both the Marcellus and Utica Shale plays. Future expansions to the plant’s capacity are underway in response to the critical need for processing services in the Utica Shale.

Energy company Cuadrilla Resources Ltd. said Friday it has temporarily suspended drilling at an exploration site in southern England amid protests from residents and environmentalists opposed to shale gas extraction.

Dixon, who joined Chesapeake in 1991, had served as interim chief executive officer in April while the Oklahoma City-based company searched for a permanent replacement for ousted co-founder Aubrey McClendon. Doug Lawler, who became CEO in May, informed employees about the departures today in a memo.

The $750,000 settlement Range Resources paid to the Hallowich family to move from their Mt. Pleasant Township home in Pennsylvania's Washington County 2011 still allows them to keep the monthly royalty payments for natural gas extraction on their former property.

That detail and other information came to light Monday when the missing settlement agreement between the former Mt. Pleasant couple and the Marcellus shale natural gas driller was made public under a court order by Washington County President Judge Debbie O’Dell Seneca.

Many Marcellus shale operators in Pennsylvania will likely opt to use federal rules to improve air quality at well sites, a spokesman for an industry trade group said this weeky, reports the Shale Reporter.

The Department of Environmental Protection is giving well operators the choice of obtaining a state-approved air quality plan or else implementing procedures that would be more stringent than new federal air quality rules for oil and gas sites.

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency is battling MarkWest Energy Partners and its contractors for four slurry spills related to pipeline construction in eastern Ohio, the Columbus Dispatch reports.

The agency said the four spills since last Septemer were "unacceptable" in a March 8 letter.

Steve Everley at The Energy Collective argues that many people opposed to fracking are also science deniers.

Everley: "A common talking point among critics of hydraulic fracturing is that they somehow own “the science” on shale development. The industry is merely raising doubt about scientific studies, they claim – just enough to confuse the public and make them think there’s a legitimate debate. As the Washington Post recently characterized Gasland Part II director Josh Fox’s opinion:

The shale energy boom likely won't go global for a number of reasons, writes Leonardo Maugeri at The National Interest.

Maugeri: "The United States is enjoying an oil boom whose real extent is still largely underestimated. In just few years, the country may become the world’s top oil producer, mainly due to the unlocking of its huge shale-oil resources.

Don't believe all the good-news hype revolving around the fracking of shale in the United States, writes Chris Nelder at SmartPlanet

Nelder: "The shale revolution is 'a little bit overhyped,' Shell CEO Peter Voser said last week as his company announced a $2.1 billion write-down, mostly owing to the poor performance of its fracking adventures in U.S. 'liquids-rich shales.' Which of its shale properties have underperformed, Shell didn’t say, but CFO Simon Henry admitted that 'the production curve is less positive than we originally expected.'

Robert Rapier at Energy Trends Insider writes: "Over the past seven years, the US has firmly established itself as the global king of natural gas production (and consumption). In 2011, the US produced 62.7 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) — more natural gas than any country had ever produced in a single year. That record fell in 2012 when the US produced 65.7 bcfd — which represented just over 20% of all the natural gas produced in the world. And thus far in 2013, US natural gas production is running ahead of 2012’s record production level."

HOUSTON
,
Aug. 9, 2013
/PRNewswire/ --
EV Energy Partners, L.P.,
(Nasdaq: EVEP) today announced that it, along with certain institutional partnerships managed by
EnerVest, Ltd.
, has signed an agreement to divest certain acreage in
Ohio's
Utica Shale
for
$284.3 million
to an undisclosed buyer. The total acreage associated with this sale includes 22,535 acres in Guernsey, Harrison and
Noble
counties. Of that total, EVEP is selling 4,345 acres for approximately
$56 million
, net to its ownership interest. EVEP will retain its overriding royalty interests in these acres. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the third quarter and is subject to customary closing conditions and purchase price adjustments.

A group of California state lawmakers has asked the federal government to investigate hydraulic fracturing off the California coast where new oil leases have been banned since a disastrous oil spill in 1969.

NiSource is prepared to pay $1.5 million to repair county roads in Mahoning County that would be damaged in the building of pipelines and a natural gas processing plant, the Youngstown Vindicator reports.

The state of Pennsylvania has asked the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to rehear arguments in the fight over how much power municipalities have over oil and gas drilling, a move that comes one week after Republican Gov. Tom Corbett's appointee to replace Joan Orie Melvin was sworn in to the bench, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports.

A group led by several Pittsburgh suburbs has been fighting the state for more than a year over the constitutionality of a law, known as Act 13, which mandates local governments allow gas drilling in all areas of a town, even in residential neighborhoods. They argue it strips them of their constitutional rights over local zoning.

(New York– August 6, 2013) Environmental Defense Fund President Fred Krupp called for action in response to a new scientific report published this week in the Geophysical Research Letters. The study reported high levels of climate-altering methane emissions observed on one day in Utah’s Uintah Basin, the state’s largest oil and gas producing region. Methane, the main ingredient in natural gas, is a greenhouse gas many times more potent than carbon dioxide.

Today the Protect BG Team will submit the 1,786 signatures collected over the past two months to put the Charter Amendment on the November 2013 ballot for the City of Bowling Green. The amendment is basically a US constitution-based Citizens’ Bill of Rights. Cities are finding this extra protection necessary as a result of the dismantled legislation, environmental law exceptions and local protections that were removed to facilitate the relatively new and highly unregulated industrial process of horizontal hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and the associated water destruction and disposal of the vast quantities of toxic and radioactive waste it creates. Due to the exemptions to zoning regulations and environmental protections, there are cities in Ohio that have already experienced the industrialized fracking and injection well operations within city limits that threaten clean air and water as well as property values and human health.

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 7, 2013--
Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P.
(NYSE: KMP) (
Kinder Morgan
), and
MarkWest Utica EMG, L.L.C.
(MarkWest Utica EMG), a joint venture between
MarkWest Energy Partners, L.P.
(NYSE: MWE) (MarkWest) and
The Energy and Minerals Group
(EMG) today announced they have signed a letter of intent to form a midstream joint venture (JV) to pursue two critical new projects to support producers in the Utica and Marcellus shales in
Ohio
,
Pennsylvania
and
West Virginia
. The first project consists of the development of a 400 million-cubic-foot-per-day (MMcf/d) cryogenic processing complex in
Tuscarawas County, Ohio
, utilizing an existing, 220-acre site that
Kinder Morgan
has under option. The second project consists of the development of an initial, 200,000 barrels-per-day (bpd), C2+ natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline that originates at the planned JV processing facilities in
Ohio
and transports NGLs to
Gulf Coast
fractionation facilities.

WASHINGTON, August 7, 2013 ─ Erik Milito, API director of upstream and industry operations, called on the Department of Energy (DOE) to move quickly to process a backlog of applications to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) to countries that do not have free trade agreements with the United States. The Department today approved only the third of 19 applications since 2011.

“The Lake Charles permit is a welcome signal that Energy Secretary Moniz recognizes the importance of LNG exports to economic growth, but there are still thousands of jobs and billions in investments waiting on the sidelines for federal approval. America is experiencing an energy revolution thanks to our abundant natural gas resources, and LNG exports are critical to unlocking the benefits for U.S. workers and reducing the trade deficit.

“The law presumes that all exports are in the public interest, and the DOE has every reason to expedite approvals. LNG exports will grow the economy and help bring back millions of U.S. jobs in engineering, manufacturing, construction, and facility operations.”

LNG exports would spur strong growth in U.S. GDP, but U.S. companies face considerable competition for LNG sales abroad, with at least 63 international LNG export projects currently planned or under construction, according to API. U.S. LNG exports could create tens of thousands of domestic jobs while having only minimal impacts on domestic U.S. natural gas prices, according to a recent report by ICF International.

API is a national trade association that represents all segments of America’s technology-driven oil and natural gas industry. Its more than 500 members – including large integrated companies, exploration and production, refining, marketing, pipeline, and marine businesses, and service and supply firms – provide most of the nation’s energy. The industry also supports 9.8 million U.S. jobs and 8 percent of the U.S. economy, delivers $86 million a day in revenue to our government, and, since 2000, has invested over $2 trillion in U.S. capital projects to advance all forms of energy, including alternatives.

In another bizarre twist in a case that has attracted international attention, a
Range Resources
attorney
now says that the lifetime
gag order
preventing the Hallowiches from saying anything ever about Marcellus
Shale gas
drilling or companies involved in its development, doesn't apply to their two small children, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.

The case, which has become a
public relations
problem for the Marcellus Shale gas development companies involved, was initiated by Stephanie and Chris Hallowich, who claimed that multiple shale gas wells, compressor stations and a water impoundment surrounding their 10-acre farm in
Mount Pleasant
,
Washington County
, had sickened their family and damaged the value of their property.

The Obama administration has approved a plan by Lake Charles Exports LLC to export U.S. natural gas from a terminal in Louisiana, overcoming concerns that greater amounts of exports will result in higher natural-gas prices at home, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The approval, granted Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Department, is the third by the Obama administration to ship out liquified natural gas.

BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP), the world’s biggest mining company, signaled it will expand in the shale oil and gas industry in the U.S., forecasting global commodity demand will jump 75 percent over the next 15 years.

Gulfport Energy has signed 10-year agreements with Dominion East Ohio and Dominion Transmission Inc. to transport natural gas from eastern Ohio’s Utica shale to the Midwest and to connecting pipelines.

The Oklahoma-based energy company made the announcements on Wednesday during a teleconference on second quarter 2013 update on earnings and operations.

Chesapeake Energy has given up a two-year legal fight to retain thousands of acres of natural gas drilling leases in New York state, landowner and legal sources told Reuters.

Landowners in Broome and Tioga counties, who had leased acreage to Chesapeake over the past decade, had battled the pioneering oil driller in court to prevent it from extending the leases under their original terms, many of which were agreed to long before a boom in hydraulic fracturing swept the United States.

HOUSTON, TX, August 6, 2013 –Divestitures drove U.S. oil and gas merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the second quarter of 2013, according to PwC US. While second quarter deal volume and value decreased 26 percent and 43 percent, respectively, compared to the second quarter of 2012, interest in energy M&A transactions remained robust.

Concerns about the methane problem associated with the U.S. natural gas boom are mounting with each study released. This week scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of Colorado (UC) at Boulder published a new paper on methane leakage in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. It reports an alarmingly high level of methane emissions in the Uintah Basin of Utah — 6.2 to 11.7 percent of total production for an area about 1,000 square miles. Findings are based on readings from airplane flights that measured methane in the air on a single day and estimated the proportion of those emissions that came from the oil and gas infrastructure —production, gathering systems, processing and transmission of the gas out of the region. The authors calculated the uncertainty of their measurements, finding a 68 percent chance the leak rate is between 6.2 and 11.7 percent, and a 95 percent chance it is between 3.5 and 14 percent.

Rigs targeting oil and natural gas in the U.S. gained for the fifth straight week to the highest level this year as producers boosted natural-gas plays in the Marcellus Shale formation on the East Coast.

Companies prospecting for oil off California's coast have used hydraulic fracturing on at least a dozen occasions to force open cracks beneath the seabed, and now regulators are investigating whether the practice should require a separate permit and be subject to stricter environmental review.

A coalition of seven conservation groups sued the Bureau of Land Management recently in federal district court in Colorado for allocating more than 800,000 acres of federal public land to climate-warming oil shale and tar sands development without undertaking formal consultation to protect endangered species.

A coalition of Ohio activists on Thursday asked Gov. John Kasich to get answers to unanswered questions about radioactive drilling wastes.

The activists, in a letter, urged Kasich to personally direct the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the Ohio Department of Health and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to answer questions on shale drilling wastes from Ohio and out-of-state drillers that are coming into Ohio.

NPR radio station WKSU-FM reports that Ohio University is preparinjg to survey civic leaders in 17 counties in eastern Ohio to determine the impacts of drilling for natural gas and liquids in Ohio's Utica shale.

Drilling for natural gas caused "significant damage" to drinking-water aquifers in a Pennsylvania town at the center of a fight over the safety of hydraulic fracturing, according to a report prepared by a federal official.

As environmental regulations continue their forward march and gas prices remain low compared to historic rates due to increased domestic supply, the number of power plants changing their primary fuel source to natural gas has increased dramatically. In 2011 and 2012, just over 5.5 GW of power plant capacity switched to burning primarily natural gas from another form of fossil fuel, according to an SNL Energy analysis of U.S. Energy Information Administration 860 data.